Paulo Abrantes Universidade de Brasília

Transcription

1 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES Paulo Abrantes Universidade de Brasília Abstract: This paper gives a historical overview of the ways various trends in the philosophy of science dealt with models and their relationship with the topics of heuristics and theoretical dynamics. First of all, N. Campbell s account of analogies as components of scientific theories is presented. Next, the notion of model in the reconstruction of the structure of scientific theories proposed by logical empiricists is examined. This overview finishes with M. Hesse s attempts to develop Campbell s early ideas in terms of an analogical inference. The final part of the paper points to contemporary developments on these issues which adopt a cognitivist perspective. It is indicated how discussions in the cognitive sciences might help to flesh out some of the insights philosophers of science had concerning the role models and analogies play in actual scientific theorizing. Key words: models, analogical reasoning, metaphors in science, the structure of scientific theories, theoretical dynamics, heuristics, scientific discovery. Hesse (1976) suggests that different philosophical explications of the roles models play in science correspond to different models of science. As a matter of fact, the explication of scientific modeling became a central issue in the criticism and revision of logical empiricism in the 50 s and the 60 s. The critics of the logical empiricist explication of models pointed out that it doesn t capture one of the roles models play in science: that of providing guidelines for the development of theories. 1 Recebido em 6 de dezembro de 2004 Aceito em 30 de dezembro de 2004

2 Paulo Abrantes CAMPBELL ON THEORIES The idea that models steer the formulation and development of theories dates back at least to Campbell s book Physics: the elements (1920). Strictly speaking, Campbell doesn t talk about models, but rather about analogy. For Campbell, a theory is a connected set of propositions that can be divided into two sets: the hypothesis and the dictionary. The way Campbell defines these different sets of propositions in a theory anticipates, in some respects, the so called received ( standard or syntactical ) view of the structure of scientific theories, associated with logical empiricism. 2 What is relevant to my concerns here is, rather, the way in which Campbell s conception of a theory differs from those that were subsequently proposed by the logical empiricists. He argues for the need of a third component in a theory the analogy which steers its development. Campbell (1920, p. 129) explicitly distinguishes his position from those that regard analogies simply as aids in the formulation of a theory, as if they could be removed and forgotten once the theory is constructed. Instead, he claims that analogies are an utterly essential part of theories, without which [they] would be completely valueless and unworthy of the name. The bottom line of Campbell s argument is that the meaning of a proposition includes not only its empirical content, but also the ideas which are called to mind when it is asserted (Campbell, 1920, p. 132). In particular, the meaning of a theory is not reducible to the experimental statements it implies. A valuable theory evokes ideas which are not contained in the laws which it explains (p. 132). These ideas are suggested by the analogy and play an essential role in modifications of the hypothesis and the dictionary, required when a theory faces evidence against it (p. 134). 226

3 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES In his reconstruction of the way the kinetic theory of gases has been constructed, Campbell claims that the propositions of the hypothesis have a similarity in form with the laws which would describe the motion of a large number of infinitely small and highly elastic bodies in a box. The propositions of the dictionary are then suggested by the analogy displayed by the propositions of the hypothesis (p. 128). Campbell s analogy has more than a formal dimension, though. In this context, it is important to mention his distinction between laws and theories, as well as the related distinction between what a proposition asserts and what it means. A proposition asserts its empirical content. The meaning of a proposition includes not only its empirical content, but also the ideas which are called to mind when it is asserted (p. 132). Campbell claims that a law means what it asserts. The meaning of a theory, however, should be distinguished from what it asserts: its meaning is not reducible to the (meanings of the) experimental statements it implies. Even in the imaginary situation in which a theory might be shown to be logically equivalent to a set of laws, Campbell argues that the meaning of the theory is still not reducible to what these laws assert. Therefore, formal relationships are not all that matters in an analogy, but rather the meanings it conveys: A theory is valuable, and is a theory in any sense important for science, only if it evokes ideas which are not contained in the laws which it explains. The evocation of these ideas is even more valuable than the logical equivalence to the laws. (CAMPBELL, 1920, p. 132) Campbell argues forcefully against a formalist view of the structure of scientific theories: In theories [...] there is something over and above the formal constitution, which cannot be expressed as part of the formal 227

4 Paulo Abrantes constitution and yet distinguishes the theory from all possible alternatives. (CAMPBELL, 1920, p. 144). If this is so, even theories that are known to be false- that is, theories which don t strictly imply (or are not equivalent to) experimental laws- might still be valuable, because of the ideas that they bring to mind (p. 132). 3 The situation is clearly different in the case of laws: if what we guessed to be the statement of a law turns out to be false, there is no value left in asserting it. Analogies and the dynamics of theories The core of a theory is, for Campbell, its hypothesis and the analogy it evokes, so to speak. He claims that the dictionary only uses the analogy and its propositions are usually suggested by it. Therefore, changes in the dictionary cannot be taken, strictly, as changes in the theory they don t affect its identity. However, changes in the hypothesis- in order to account for inconsistencies between the implications of the theory and laws which are already known- can be taken as changes in the essence (or the core) of the theory and, therefore, be regarded as evidence against the latter, since they show that the original theory was not quite complete and satisfactory (CAMPBELL, 1920, p. 134). Given the importance Campbell attributes to the analogy in his account of theories, he regards this appraisal as not always accurate, since the hypothesis might also be suggested by the analogy. In this case, new ideas are, as it were, potentially contained in the original form of the theory, keeping its identity. In his reconstruction of the development of the kinetic theory of gases, Campbell shows, for instance, how the idea that molecules have a non-zero diameter was introduced in the hypothesis in order to account for experimental data about the viscosity of gases. He argues that this modification of the hypothesis was a natural extension of the old theory of perfect gases, since the analogy with 228

5 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES elastic bodies suggested that molecules might have a non-vanishing size (CAMPBELL, 1920, p ). The modifications that were made in the hypothesis can, therefore, be regarded as confirmations of the (original) theory and not evidence against it. Campbell has nothing to say, however, about how the scientist comes up with the analogy in the first place. He claims that, in most cases, it is just a lucky guess, a brilliant idea of the inventor, dictated by no rule (p. 143). I ll show that Campbell s idea of an analogy, as a component of scientific theories, had its revival in the 50 s as part of the emerging criticism against logical empiricism. Before that, we shoud have a look at the reconstruction of scientific theories proposed by the latter trend in the philosophy of science. MODELS AND THE RECEIVED VIEW OF THEORIES A central philosophical problem for the so-called received view (RV) of the structure of scientific theories concerned the meaning of the theoretical language. Logical empiricists acknowledged that theoretical language cannot, in general, get its meaning by explicit semantic connections with observational language. In later versions of this view of theories, most theoretical terms get their meaning implicitly through their relationships, in the calculus, to other terms, mostly elementary or observational. Only the latter are explicitly interpreted by means of correspondence rules. It is not straightforward to assess the place the notion of model had in RV. Logical empiricists borrowed this notion from the study of the semantics of formal languages and applied it to the reconstruction of scientific theories. A semantic model is a structure of objects, properties and relations, that satisfy (or realize) the sentences of a calculus. 229

6 Paulo Abrantes Carnap on scientific models As early as in Carnap s The logical syntax of language (1937) model is employed in this sense. 4 We find in his works explicit critiques of other roles models are supposed to play in science, associated with aims like understanding and visualization (of theories). Furthermore, I coudn t find in Carnap s early work, at least, any explicit association between modeling and the issue of theoretical dynamics. In his paper for the The International Encyclopedia of Unified Science (1939), Carnap addresses the issue of the purported psychological role provided by models in the understanding of scientific theories. He mentions the case of the relativity and quantum theories and argues that the present situation, at least in physics, is very different from that prevalent in the 19th century, where intuitive understanding was still sought through the building of mechanical models. Carnap emphasizes that a model has no more than an aesthetic or didactic or at best a heuristic value, but is not at all essential for a successful application of the physical theory (CARNAP, 1939, p. 210). He claims that in order to apply a theory to nature, it is enough to interpret just the elementary terms of the theory: the interpretation of the other terms is then indirectly determined by the formulas of the calculus, either definitions or laws, connecting them with the elementary terms (p. 210). In the introductory lectures on philosophy of science Carnap gave in the late 40 s and in the 50 s (published in 1966), his target is again models taken as visual spatial structures, as they were understood in nineteenth-century physics (CARNAP, 1966, p. 176). Visualizability is criticized even more explicitly than in his 1939 paper: The ability to visualize is a psychological matter, entirely irrelevant to physics. The construction of a physical theory is 230

7 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES not limited by man s power to visualize; in fact, modern physics has moved steadily away from what can be directly observed and imagined. (CARNAP, 1966, p. 172) Carnap acknowledges, nonetheless, that visual models can be useful since the mind works intuitively, and it is often helpful for a scientist to think with the aid of visual pictures (p. 176). 5 In these lectures, Carnap addresses, in passing, the issue of the dynamics of theorizing. He says that the interpretation of a postulate system in physics in terms of correspondence rules is always incomplete and that new correspondence rules can be added. This modification in the dictionary (Carnap uses Campbell s terminology) doesn t change the identity of the theory though, given by its fundamental laws. However, Carnap (1966, p. 237) doesn t tell us how these new correspondence rules are introduced or how radical changes might come about, in which the fundamental laws of the theory are themselves modified. Carnap works out the example of the kinetic theory of gases (like many others before and after him, including Campbell). He describes very briefly the model or schematic picture of particles in constant agitation and goes on saying that when the kinetic theory was first developed, many of the magnitudes occurring in the laws of the theory were not known (p. 241). However, this model is not mentioned to account for the introduction of new correspondence rules in the theory which are required to link theoretical terms and phenomena, making possible the determination of those unknown parameters and, therefore, the test of the theory. 6 I must highlight, at this point, that Campbell was concerned, primarily, neither with visualization nor with understanding, when he argued for an analogy as a component of scientific theories. He was, rather, looking for a rationale in the modifications a scientist makes in a theory in order to cope with empirical data. 231

8 Paulo Abrantes A new concern with modeling In the 50 s, the work of philosophers of a clear logical empiricist allegiance- such as Hutten, Braithwaite, Brodbeck, and Hempel- showed a greater concern with the explication of the role models play in science, yielding improved versions of RV. Those attempts fundamentally accepted Carnap s explication in terms of semantic models. The most detailed and elaborate of these attempts is Braithwaite s. He characterizes a model as a system of propositions having the same formal structure the same calculus as the modeled theory. 7 Model and theory have, however, different epistemological statuses: [...] in the model the logically prior premises determine the meaning of the terms occurring in the representation in the calculus of the conclusions; in the theory the logically posterior consequences determine the meaning of the theoretical terms occurring in the representation in the calculus of the premises. (BRAITHWAITE, 1955, p. 90) Braithwaite claims that similarity in formal structure [...] is all that is required of the relationship of model to theory (p. 93). He cautions against the risk of conflating the model and the theory by taking the model s reference as standing for the theory s reference. The interpretation through models can, at best, play a psychological role in helping to grasp the calculus. Despite his formalist inclinations, Braithwaite expected that a philosophical reconstruction of scientific theories doesn t ossify them; instead, he recognized that theories are, in actual scientific practice, dynamical entities (BAILER-JONES, 1999, p. 27). The explication Braithwaite provided for scientific models was not able, however, to account for any role they might play in the dynamics of theories. He clearly doesn t accept the criticism to RV voiced, for example, by Hesse, herself echoing Campbell: The 232

9 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES model may be said to point towards its extension in a way which thinking of the calculus in isolation would not do (HESSE, 1962, p. 229). The semantics of theories: do correspondence rules suffice? Suppe (1977) showed that some versions of RV (that can be found, for instance, in Hempel s and Carnap s later works) actually require an independent semantic interpretation of the theoretical language by means of mathematical models, 8 over and above the interpretation provided by correspondence rules. Suppe s claim presupposes a particular account of the notion of partial interpretation of a theory, originally proposed by Putnam (1962, p. 245): to partially interpret a theory is to specify a non-empty class of intended models. If the specified class has one member, the interpretation is complete; if more than one, properly partial. An independent semantic interpretation of the theoretical language is required to restrict the class of possible models for the theory (that is, the class of models compatible with the interpretation given by the correspondence rules to low-level terms). This independent extra-observational interpretation presupposes a richer metalanguage: ordinary scientific language. Part of the meaning of theoretical terms comes from this interpretation in the richer metalanguage; the other part comes indirectly through the correspondence rules. Suppe claims that the meanings of terms like electron, electron emission and so forth are, actually, provided by extra-observational associations for example, for electrons there might include various features of the billiard-ball model, various classical intuitions about macroscopic point-masses, and so on. Such features contribute to the meaning of theoretical terms in ordinary scientific language, and it is quite 233

10 Paulo Abrantes likely that without them little progress could be made. But despite their legitimate place as meaning constituents of such terms, such features need not, and usually do not, have observable or testable consequences. (SUPPE, 1977, p. 92) He argues that the critics of logical empiricism often miscontrued the intention of the proponents of later versions of RV, as if they didn t accept any independent semantic interpretation of the theoretical language. 9 He acknowledges, however, that the possibility of an independent semantic interpretation of the theoretical language is not usually made explicit and, moreover, that philosophers like Carnap and Hempel didn t give to this issue the importance it deserves. 10 This might explain the widespread evaluation of RV as the conceptual vacuum account of theories, to use Nickles terms. In that usual reading, besides neutral observation language, in RV no intertheoretic relations (by means of models, analogies etc.) were allowed to play a genuine cognitive role either in concept formation or in hypothesis confirmation (NICKLES, 1977, p. 572). However, Suppe s construal of the logical empiricists intentions in later versions of RV contrasts sharply with Nickles. Suppe argues, somewhat surprisingly, that [...] the doctrine of partial interpretation commits the final version of the Received View (interpreted realistically) [...] to a position very similar to that advocated by Campbell [1920], Nagel [1961] and Hesse [1965, 1966]. (SUPPE, 1977, p. 96) However, Suppe qualifies this claim by distinguishing two kinds of models: mathematical 11 and iconic. Carnap s and Hempel s versions of RV allow only an (independent) interpretation of the theoretical language in terms of semantic models. Nagel s, Hesse s and Harré s accounts of theories require not only a semantic but also an iconic model. 234

11 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES In an iconic model, says Suppe, a model is a model of some thing or kind of thing, and functions as an icon of what it modelsthat is, the model is structurally similar (isomorphic) to what it models (SUPPE, 1977, p. 97). The example he gives of an iconic model is again the familiar billiard ball model for gases. 12 Suppe argues, however, that the need for an independent interpretation of the theoretical language is a logical requirement and should be distinguished from the role iconic models might play in theoretical dynamics. Anyway, he explicitly denies that mathematical models can play the role of guidelines for theoretical development. 13 Iconic models might be heuristically fruitful but they aren t essential to theories, in the sense that they aren t required to assure their testability or their explanatory role. 14 Schaffner concurs with Suppe showing, convincingly, that without an antecedent theoretical meaning a theory can t even be tested: Only after theoretical terms have been given a relatively precise meaning, by providing a list of some of the important properties of the hypothetically proposed theoretical entities, does it even become possible to consider relevant experiments or observations which might test the theory. (SCHAFFNER, 1993, p ) However, he departs from Suppe by arguing that since models and analogies are often the basis of this antecedent meaning, they can t be considered as just heuristic at best (SCHAFFNER, 1993, p. 132). Schaffner claims that logical empiricists were forced to recognize that the meaning of the theoretical language can t be given only by correspondence rules. Instead, the admissibility of those rules depends on the antecedent meaning of the theoretical terms. 235

12 Paulo Abrantes Hempel on analogies Hempel s critiques of the first versions of RV emphasized, in agreement with Suppe s reading, that at least part of the meaning of theoretical terms should rely on an antecedently understood vocabulary. He claims, however, that this third component (HEMPEL, 1977, p. 251) of a scientific theory cannot be conflated with what he calls an analogical model. Hempel defines analogical models as models based on nomic isomorphisms (HEMPEL, 1965, p. 435). 15 This kind of formal analogy presupposes that the laws that describe two systems have the same form, that is, that they are syntactically identical. The properties of the systems and their underlying physical mechanisms need not be the same for setting up a formal analogy, though. Hempel gives the example of the analogy between Ohm s law for the flow of an electric current and Poiseulle s law for the flow of a fluid in a pipe. Hempel argues that analogical models, in this sense, can t play any role in providing explanations of phenomena in a new domain. He acknowledges, however, that nomic isomorphisms might play a heuristic role in the context of discovery by suggesting extensions of the analogy on which it was originally based (HEMPEL, 1965, p. 441). The use of mechanical models by Maxwell is given as an example of this heuristic role. 16 However, Hempel claims that, in this case, models are not based on a formal analogy only, but are taken as hypothetical representations of microphysical structures, like in the kinetic theory of heat. These models are, by and large, what Suppe calls iconic models. Hempel discusses, in this context, Campbell s ideas about the structure of theories and the essential role the latter assigns to the analogy. He reads Campbell as if the latter required that, in microstructure theories, the laws of the microphysical structures and processes should be identical or syntactically isomorphic with a set of laws governing an already well-explored field of inquiry 236

13 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES (HEMPEL, 1965, p. 442). 17 Hempel goes on to argue that Campbell fails to establish that analogy plays an essential logic-systematic role in scientific theorizing and theoretical explaining (p. 445). However, in this criticism, Hempel presupposes that Campbell s analogy boils down to a nomic isomorphism. Some of Campbell s discussions can, certainly, be seen in this light. Nevertheless, I have emphasized that there is more to Campbell s notion of analogy than a mere formal dimension, since it is expected to play a role in steering the development of theories. CRITICISM OF THE LOGICAL EMPIRICIST EXPLICATION Despite Suppe s point that in some versions of RV, as in Hempel s, there is an explicit requirement of an independent semantic interpretation of the theoretical language, the early critiques of logical empiricism in the 50 s and 60 s hinged rather on the relevance of models to an account of the dynamics of theories. Toulmin, in his 1953 book, claims that the role of models is not only to give an interpretation of a symbolism, but also to suggest further questions and to steer the investigation. Models (understood as representations, icons) are, he says, deployed. However, Toulmin doesn t offer a detailed account of how this deployment is made, or any discussion of its reliability: [...] the process by which, as we go along, fresh aspects of the model are exploited and fresh questions given a meaning is a complicated one, and one which needs to be studied in detail for each fresh branch of physical theory if the logic of that theory is to be clearly understood. (TOULMIN, 1953, p. 37-8) In the 60s and 70 s, we find many other philosophers exploring the same point: Achinstein, Harre, McMullin and Swanson, among others. 237

14 Paulo Abrantes Achinstein (1968, p. 250), for instance, claims that models aid in formulating, developing, and understanding theories. He stands against the semantic theory 18 since it doesn t account for these roles. He lists, among the supporters of the latter, Braithwaite, Nagel, Hempel, Brodbeck and Hutten. The critiques to the semantic explication of model were often voiced in terms of a surplus meaning or surplus content associated with models, which introduces an assymetry in the relationship between model and theory, contrary to the symmetry presupposed by the formal explication of this relationship (as in Braithwaite s or Hempel s accounts). For the model to suggest guidelines for the development of a theory it is not enough just to share a syntactical structure with the latter. In his 1970 book, Harré argues also forcefully that theory construction is primarily model building (HARRÉ, 1970, p ). Swanson (1966) argued also against the explication of the relation between a model and a theory as a mathematical isomorphism. In the same vein as Nickles, he claims that in the latter account models are conceptually vacuous devices. Instead, he claims that in science the relation between a model and a theory is asymmetrical: a model has a deeper structure than the theory it is modeling. 19 Spector (1965) argues that theoretical terms must be (directly) interpreted in terms of a model if extensions and modifications of the theory are to be made non-arbitrarily. He develops a criticism of the semantical system approach to models, which he associates with Carnap and Braithwaite. Spector claims that Braithwaite s concept of model, for instance, cannot distinguish between different roles models play in science. These roles go from identities of formal structure - where there is no relevant connection between the domain or subject matter of the theory and the domain of the model to those in which there is a realist commitment of the physicist toward the model taken as 238

15 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES a representation of the target system (even if it is an idealized representation). Spector claims, like Hesse (below), that modeling is based on analogical reasoning: If, however, the observable properties of the domain of the theory- the designata of the observation terms- are similar to the properties of the model represented by these same terms when the calculus is interpreted in the domain of the model, then the possibility arises of comparing the properties of the model represented by the theoretical terms of the calculus with the theoretical objects of the theory. That is we can argue by analogy to the nature of the theoretical properties. (SPECTOR, 1965, p. 131) Spector asks himself whether this condition could be seen as an emendation to Braithwaite s semantic approach. He concludes that, actually, his approach is incompatible with the partial interpretation thesis assumed by the logical empiricist accounts of the structure of scientific theories since to reason analogically from substantive similarities in the designata of terms in the derived formulas in the model and in the theory to substantive similarities in the theoretical (primitive) properties amounts to a direct interpretation of the theoretical terms in the theory. (SPECTOR, 1965, p. 139) He mentions Campbell, Harre, Hesse and Putnam as anticipating this conclusion. I will examine next Hesse s work which is, probably, the most systematic effort to flesh out Campbell s ideas on the role analogies play in theoretical dynamics. 239

16 Paulo Abrantes Hesse on scientific modeling One year before Toulmin s 1953 book, Hesse argued that one of the main functions of an analogy or model is to suggest extensions of the theory by considering extensions of the analogy, since more is known about the analogy than is known about the subject matter of the theory itself. (HESSE, 1952, p. 291) In a paper published two years later, she claims that the mechanical models of 19th century physics, like Maxwell s, played an important role as pointers towards future progress (HESSE, 1954, p. 200). 20 Many critics of the semantic explication of model (especially in Braithwaite s version) argued that for a model to play the role of a pointer, it has to share with the theory more than a common (syntactic/formal) structure. Hesse, likewise, makes a distinction between formal and material analogies. 21 She attempts to explicate the role of models as pointers in terms of the (classical) analogical argument. In a nutshell, Hesse s fundamental thesis is that the logical empiricist semantic explication of model cannot provide a rationale for modifications either in the axioms of the theory or in the correspondence rules. She argues that only models based on material analogies can provide this rationale and, therefore, make a theory predictive in a strong sense. 22 In Hesse s account, material analogies presuppose a (pretheoretical) recognition of similarities at an observational level, between two systems or domains: the source and the target. 23 Hesse calls these similarities the positive analogy, using a terminology she borrows from Keynes. Even if a source is able, by applying this condition, to provide a model for the target, the source and the target are supposed to differ in many respects, that is, they have a negative analogy as well

17 MODELS AND THE DYNAMICS OF THEORIES A model for the target system (model 1 ) is constructed from the representation of the source system (model 2 ) by the elimination (abstraction) of the recognized negative analogy. 25 Billiard balls can be a model for gases if we abstract irrelevant properties of the balls, such as their color. The important point to emphasize here is that the construction of models always involves abstraction. The positive analogy prompts analogical inferences from the description (theory or representation) of the source to a (tentative) description of the target domain. That is, from the perception of similarities at an observational level, we infer (analogically) that both systems probably share other features as well, comprising their neutral analogy. In non-trivial cases, the inferred features are nonobservable in the target domain and, therefore, provide prima facie (theoretical) explanations of the manifest behavior of the target system. What Hesse calls the neutral analogy has a fundamental importance for the constructive role she assigns to scientific modeling. Theories are, for Hesse, dynamic entities and the neutral analogy between a (source) model and a (target) system constitutes, in her terms, its growing points (HESSE, 1966, p. 10; 2000, p ). 26 AN ANALYSIS OF HESSE S APPROACH TO SCIENTIFIC MODELING Several problems are generated by Hesse s analogical inference approach to the role of models as guidelines for theoretical construction. This might explain why it remained relatively marginal from mainstream philosophy of science. Nevertheless, Hesse s ideas have resurfaced in the recent interest in analogical reasoning in AI and CS (ABRANTES, 1999). In the following, I will, first of all, highlight some problems suggested by her early account and then indicate how they can be worked out by adopting a new approach. Should observations play a special role in looking for a potential analogy? 241

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